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CHAPTER XVI

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. HENRY VI (1422–1461)

The Council and the Parliament Set Aside the Will of Henry V. — There was the greatest difference imaginable between the two brothers to whom Henry V had intrusted the government of England and France. Bedford was a high-minded man, devoted to public duty, while Gloucester, clever and cultivated, the patron of scholars, and at the same time master of the arts which please the people, was self-seeking and unprincipled, constantly stirring up dissension at home and abroad. Distrusting him from the start, the Council and Parliament set aside the will of the late King and declared Bedford Protector of the Realm, though they allowed Humphrey to act in that capacity during his elder brother's absence. As a matter of fact, however, the real powers of government were exercised by the Council, which was nominated by Parliament.

Two Kings of France. On 21 October, 1422, the poor mad King Charles VI followed Henry V to the grave. The party of the Dauphin at once proclaimed him King as Charles VII, while the English party proclaimed little Henry. France was exhausted and demoralized, and Charles, weak and pleasure loving, the tool of worthless and ruffianly councilors, seemed totally unequal to the great task imposed upon him. Slowly, however, national sentiment was gathering against the foreign conquerors who had brought so much misery upon the land.

The Siege of Orleans (1428–1429). Jeanne d'Arc. — In the late summer of 1428 Bedford sent an army against Orleans, the chicf stronghold which acknowledged Charles VII. Having failed to take the town by assault, the English determined to reduce it by famine, and a siege began which lasted from October, 1428, to April, 1429. For the French the outlook was of the gloomiest; their armies had been driven off the field and a complete triumph for the English seemed assured. Suddenly, 6 March, 1429, a simple maid, barely turned seventeen, appeared before the French King at Chinon, inspired, she told the doubting and astonished Court, by a divine com

mission to relieve the sorely pressed Orleans and to lead her royal master to Rheims to be crowned. Jeanne d'Arc was a peasant girl of Domremy, who, always devout and imaginative, had begun about her thirteenth year to see visions of saints and angels, and to hear mysterious voices which at length directed her to go forth and save France. Securing the half-willing support of the commander of a neighboring garrison, she put on a man's doublet and hose, mounted a horse, and rode straight to Chinon, where she easily singled out the King from a group of courtiers, and, in a secret interview, told him things that made him trust her mission. Clad in armor and girt with a "miraculous, holy sword," the "Maid of God" went forth to raise the siege of Orleans. Inspired by her advent, the garrison put the besiegers to flight, and defeated the forces sent to support them. To the French she was a God-given deliverer, to Bedford a disciple and limb of the fiend . . . that used false enchantments and sorcery."

Two Coronations (1429). — Having raised the siege of Orleans, Jeanne d'Arc led Charles to Rheims, and his coronation, 17 July, 1429, marked the height of her meteoric achievement. From now on voices ceased to guide her, and she devoutly wished that the Lord "would take her back to her father's sheep "; nevertheless, she advised an immediate advance on Paris and demanded that Burgundy make peace with his King. The Duke refused to comply, a belated and ill-considered attack on the city was repulsed, and the self-seeking courtiers were able to recover their ascendancy over the feeble-minded Charles. As a reply to the coronation at Rheims, little Henry, although not eight years old, was crowned at Westminster, 8 November, and, during the ceremony, "beheld the people all about sadly and wisely," and behaved with "great humility and devotion."

The Burning of Jeanne d'Arc (1431). In May, 1430, Jeanne d'Arc was captured by the Burgundians. Sold to the English, she was taken to Rouen and tried in February of the following year. In vain she protested that "she had done nothing save by the command of God." For three months she was bullied and ill-treated by judges and jailers, to whom her simple courage and transparent honesty made no appeal, until finally, worn out by suffering, she was forced to declare that "her voices were delusions and that she had sinned in putting on men's clothes and going to war." She was burned in the market place at Rouen, 29 May, 1431. Yet, thanks to her inspired leadership, France was startled from her lethargy, and the Maid of God" had been in her grave scarcely more than twenty years before her countrymen had driven the English from the land.

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Turn of the Tide in France. Death of Bedford (1435). — For the moment Bedford seemed triumphant. In December, 1431, Henry was taken to Paris and crowned; but one reverse after another followed, far from balanced by occasional gains. Bedford, whose last years were plagued by efforts to hold Burgundy to the English alliance and to quiet strife stirred up by his uneasy brother Humphrey in England, died in 1435, worn out by his arduous duties. Although stout and experienced generals survived him and young leaders of promise were coming to the front, his death was an irreparable loss to the English. Burgundy now finally went over to the French side, while the English, fighting with stubborn courage and persistency, steadily lost ground, until, in November, 1437, the French King once more entered Paris which his forces had recovered the previous year. Humphrey of Gloucester, free from his brother's restraint, led the English war party, while his uncle, Cardinal Henry Beaufort, led those who favored peace; but, in 1441, the waning influence of the latter abruptly ceased when his wife, Eleanor, was arrested, together with an astrologer and a woman, known as the Witch of Eye, on charges of reading the stars to determine the life of the young King, and then of endeavoring to destroy him by melting over a slow fire a waxen image made in his likeness. Her accomplices were put to death and the Duchess Eleanor was made to do penance by walking for three days about the City robed in a sheet and bearing a candle in her hand, and also sentenced to imprisonment for life. Absurd as these charges now seem, she was doubtless guilty of aiming to secure the succession of her husband, who was Henry's next heir in the Lancastrian line. Gloucester, who lacked courage to take any part in the affair, had to yield to the Beaufort faction, and, aside from obstructing them whenever he could, spent most of the remaining six years of his life collecting books and posing as a patron of learning.

Henry's Marriage to Margaret of Anjou (1444). — As Cardinal Beaufort was growing old, the conduct of affairs fell more and more into the hands of his nephew Edmund, Duke of Somerset, and of the Duke of Suffolk, the latter of whom, in 1444, at the cost of a secret truce ceding Maine and Anjou, negotiated a marriage between Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, niece of Charles VII. This fiery young woman, an absolute contrast to her pious, kindly, and weak consort, joined the Beaufort-Suffolk faction, and accumulated a host of enemies, almost from the moment of arrival in England.

Richard, Duke of York. His Claim to the Throne. Richard, Duke of York, who came to the front about this time as the leader

of the party opposed to the Queen, derived his dukedom through his father, from one of the younger sons of Edward III. From his mother he inherited a title to the Crown better than that of King Henry, since he was descended from Lionel, Duke Clarence, an elder brother of John of Gaunt.1 Parliament, however, had declared for the younger line which had the further advantage of unbroken descent through males. In spite of his political activity, it was some years before Richard asserted his claims to the throne; indeed, he might never have done so, but for Henry's inability and misfortunes.

The Impeachment of Suffolk (1450). — As soon as the news of the cession of Maine and Anjou became known, a storm of abuse descended on the head of Suffolk, and when Somerset, sent over as Commander in 1448, was forced within two years to yield the whole of Normandy, the opposing faction in England, who attributed his continued ill success to treason, vented their fury by impeaching Suffolk. He threw himself on the King's mercy, and Henry ordered him to leave the kingdom for five years. On his way abroad his ship was intercepted and he was murdered by persons unknown.

Jack Cade's Rebellion (1450). - Popular discontent was manifested in "Jack Cade's Rebellion," which broke out in Kent and Sussex in May and lasted for six weeks. The grievances complained of were mainly political, the losses in France, the miscarriage of justice, and the wasting of the King's treasure. One social grievance alone was mentioned, the Statute of Laborers, and this was probably to secure the lower classes. The insurgents, who, having taken possession of London, put some of the officials to death and sacked the houses of the leading citizens, were soon driven from the City and induced to disband by false promises of pardon. Cade, their leader, was killed in struggling against arrest; many of those who had risen with him were executed, and various scattered revolts were crushed.

Richard of York and the War of the Roses. Richard became a popular champion in consequence of his opposition to the unpopular Somerset, whom Henry had made Constable on his return from his disastrous campaign in France, and a proposal to declare him heir to the throne, which resulted in a speedy dissolution of Parliament by royal command, was the first intimation of the dynastic struggle between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, known as the War of the Roses. Yet some time elapsed before Richard himself asserted

2

1 See table, introd.

The name is not strictly correct, however, for while the white rose was the symbol of the Yorkists, the red rose was not a Lancastrian symbol. It was first used by Henry Tudor at Bosworth, in 1485.

his claims, and the actual war did not break out till 1455. Although the question of the succession came to be the most prominent issue, other causes contributed to bring it forward and to determine the final result: Henry's incapacity; the masterful intriguing character of his wife; the ill success of the war; the acute financial situation; the discontent and disorder throughout the land; and the jealousies of the great nobles who ranged themselves on the side of Somerset and Yorkist families respectively.

The Critical Year (1453). End of the Hundred Years' War. - The year 1453 witnessed events of the greatest consequence. Turning their armies south from Normandy, the French - although the English fought valiantly and were loyally supported by the Gascons conquered Guyenne, and the Hundred Years' War was over. The impossible task of conquering France, begun by Edward III, and revived so brilliantly by Henry V, was at length abandoned, and England retired from the contest retaining only Calais of her former broad territories across the Channel. In August, King Henry was suddenly bereft of his faculties, and for sixteen months he continued in a helpless state. Although Richard's prospects of succession were dashed by the news that Margaret, 13 October, had given birth to a son, he managed to get control of the government; for Parliament, which met attended by armed retainers of the rival factions, declared him "Protector and Defender of the Realm," with all the powers of Regent.

The Battle of St. Alban's and the Beginning of the War of the Roses (1455). When all seemed going well, the King's recovery of his reason on Christmas Day, 1454, reopened the old strife. Richard and his supporters were removed from office and Somerset gained the ascendancy. The Yorkists submitted to all this and retired quietly to their estates; but, when a Council was summoned to provide "for the safety of the King's person against his enemies," Richard gathered a following and marched toward London. Professing their loyalty, they demanded an audience with their Sovereign and the arrest of certain councilors of the opposite party, but they were refused a hearing, and 21 May, 1455, Somerset marched from the City with the King and a great following of lords. The two armies met in the ancient monastic town of St. Albans. The encounter which followed was little more than a street fight, but it was big in consequence, for it opened the War of the Roses. The Duke of Somerset was killed, and the Queen now came forward as the head of the royal party. The civil war, thus begun, waged intermittently for fifteen years.

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